Monozukuri Personnel Development and Operational Performance: The Mediating Role of Kaizen Event

The objective of this study was to determine the relationship monozukuri personnel development, kaizen event and operational performance using structural equation modeling (SEM). The samples were selected from the list of Japanese investments in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) in Thailand. The number of respondents was 238. An SEM technique was used for the study. To test the reliability and validity of the instrument, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test the factor loading, composite reliability, average variance extracted, Cronbach's alpha, validity, and goodness of fit. The results indicate that the theoretical model and empirical data have a good fit of $\chi 2=139.57, \text{df}=53, \chi 2/$ df=2.633, p-value =0.00, CFI=0.97, GFI=0.96, AGFI=0.94, RMR=0.01, RMSEA=0.05. The results show that Monozukuri HRD is directly and strongly related to Kaizen events and operational performance. And the effect of monozukuri HRD on operational performance increased with the mediation of kaizen event. Thus, this study has shown that the empirical test results prove that monozukuri human resource development and kaizen event improved operational performance for the automotive, steel and electronics industries that Japanese investment in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) in Thailand.